Kununurra

Wednesday 18th June 2008

Today was never going to be a busy one! Paul and I were celebrating our 14th Wedding anniversary and had agreed not to go with the gifts or cards this year so it was a little flat this morning. We wandered into town where Paul left me and the girls to the many delights of the boutiques of Kununurra while he sorted out some jobs on the car (tyres and car wash, mainly). I think the girls were a little freaked out by the shouting and swearing aboriginals that lined the pavements and it took me a while to get used to them abusing each other so loudly and frequently. They certainly do nothing for the Kununurra street scape when they are littering, vomiting and lingering almost everywhere. And I know it is probably a small minority but they are a very visible and not very pleasant minority.

The afternoon was filled with visits to the pool and playground and questions about when the Stanleys might arrive. When their phone call came at 4:30pm there was plenty of excitement in the Chamberlain camp. Their story was even more exciting – they had driven their trailer out of the Bungle Bungles themselves after their insurers had told them that they were over their limit for towing and would have to contribute to the cost. Their friendly suspension guy in town had told them to try bringing it as far as they could to reduce the cost and once they’d got off the Spring Creek rd (the road that goes into Purnululu) – having taken an excruciating 3hrs at an average speed of about 10km/hr – they just kept going because the bitumen was no challenge compared to that dirt road.

Once back to Kununurra they booked into a cabin and emptied out the trailer completely so that it was ready to go in for a suspension overhaul the next morning.

We then dragged them out to downtown Kununurra for a pub dinner to celebrate our anniversary. The kids had a tv to watch (with adult programs, but never mind that) and the adults had some pink bubbly to get through so we were all very happy and the walk back to the caravan park seemed so much shorter than the way there!